Hello, The internet connection I have right now is behaving a little erratic. So I will do a short post about an amazing birthday I had here in Ghana. It started with Sylvie crawling out of her mosquito net bunk to crawl into my mosquito net bed to give me a very nice necklace. We went to school to teach in the morning. Not super productive as the kids were practicing marching for their Independance Day Parade next week. We finished up our reading assessment with the kids to break them into smaller literacy groups on Friday.
In the afternoon, the group of us went to this amazing waterfall on the boarder of Togo and Ghana. We had to hike through the jungle/forest for a bit and then got to the waterfall were we were able to swim and watch fruit bats fly overhead around the cliffs. It was a fantastic birthday! For dinner I had a lovely gift of ice cream and happy birthday sung to me in English and Ewe. The evening finished with laundry and a game of Sorry. It was a great day. Alice
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Monday, 25 February 2013
La plus ca change...
The world in 2013 is a tricky thing to wrap one's head around. We are a long way from home and in many ways a long way from those things that we are accustomed to in our western-middle class lives. The gap, though, feels like it is shrinking for a growing segment of the population.
We arrived in Hohoe (pronounced ho-wei) on Saturday and have been getting aclimatized (both to the weather and the customs). Today we visited our placements (more on that in a future posting) as well as the market. Mondays and Fridays are market days in HoHoe. The market is everything you expect it to be in a developing country. Chaotic, colourful and cacophonous.
While in town for the market, a few of the other volunteers bought disposable phones to use while they're here (burners, for those fellow Wire fans). They cost about 25 cedis plus more for the minutes. About 20 dollars Canadian. Within minutes they were on the line to the US with their friends and relatives. On our way here we were talking about past overseas trips and Alice was remembering what it was like to call home when she was in Nepal and India in the early-nineties: line up at a central phone-centre, have the operator dial the number for you, talk for five minutes and have the line die when your five minutes was up (if you got through at all).
Everybody here seems to have a cell phone and the Vodaphone store was as comfortable and as air conditioned as Barklay's Bank. You can't help but wonder what effect it is having on the country and the ability to move forward. All the kids texting in my classes grew up with reliable telecomunications; most Ghanians didn't. Cell phones it seems to me are, to use last year's CBC's hackneyed phrase, a game changer.
We arrived in Hohoe (pronounced ho-wei) on Saturday and have been getting aclimatized (both to the weather and the customs). Today we visited our placements (more on that in a future posting) as well as the market. Mondays and Fridays are market days in HoHoe. The market is everything you expect it to be in a developing country. Chaotic, colourful and cacophonous.
While in town for the market, a few of the other volunteers bought disposable phones to use while they're here (burners, for those fellow Wire fans). They cost about 25 cedis plus more for the minutes. About 20 dollars Canadian. Within minutes they were on the line to the US with their friends and relatives. On our way here we were talking about past overseas trips and Alice was remembering what it was like to call home when she was in Nepal and India in the early-nineties: line up at a central phone-centre, have the operator dial the number for you, talk for five minutes and have the line die when your five minutes was up (if you got through at all).
Everybody here seems to have a cell phone and the Vodaphone store was as comfortable and as air conditioned as Barklay's Bank. You can't help but wonder what effect it is having on the country and the ability to move forward. All the kids texting in my classes grew up with reliable telecomunications; most Ghanians didn't. Cell phones it seems to me are, to use last year's CBC's hackneyed phrase, a game changer.
Saturday, 23 February 2013
We made it!
I will take advantage of a laptop and internet access to post while Sylvie and Scott do some reading.
We are sitting on the balcony of our guest house in Accra/Tema and I am taking it all in. Below us a family is getting ready to leave for a wedding. Everyone is dressed very regally in Ghanian cloth and the little girls have fantastic dresses with frilly socks. Even though I am very a skirt I am feeling very plain.
It was fantastic to get of the plane last night on feel the heat and breeze of Ghana. Sylvie had made people laugh on the plane when she looked out the window and in the dark of night told us it looked just like Ottawa. Once we got out she ensured us that it was different. I am having to get used to the fact that most people are going to assume that Sylvie is originally from Ghana.
From our very limited taxi ride Ghana, or at least Accra has changed in some ways dramatically. There are so many stores and even malls that did not exist 10 years ago. And ads for mobile communications everywhere. There is a sense of things booming and more up front affluence. On the other hand it is very much the same. The same street stalls, taxis and always seemingly perpetual water issues.
Sylvie seems to be taking in stride. She has made friends with the guest house owner's daughter and is asserting an attempt to influence some control over all that is changing around her with some typical 7 year old attitude. But generally she has been a fantastic trooper so far.
We are off to get some local currancy and see things behind the guest house walls, prior to our journey to Hohoe today.
We are sitting on the balcony of our guest house in Accra/Tema and I am taking it all in. Below us a family is getting ready to leave for a wedding. Everyone is dressed very regally in Ghanian cloth and the little girls have fantastic dresses with frilly socks. Even though I am very a skirt I am feeling very plain.
It was fantastic to get of the plane last night on feel the heat and breeze of Ghana. Sylvie had made people laugh on the plane when she looked out the window and in the dark of night told us it looked just like Ottawa. Once we got out she ensured us that it was different. I am having to get used to the fact that most people are going to assume that Sylvie is originally from Ghana.
From our very limited taxi ride Ghana, or at least Accra has changed in some ways dramatically. There are so many stores and even malls that did not exist 10 years ago. And ads for mobile communications everywhere. There is a sense of things booming and more up front affluence. On the other hand it is very much the same. The same street stalls, taxis and always seemingly perpetual water issues.
Sylvie seems to be taking in stride. She has made friends with the guest house owner's daughter and is asserting an attempt to influence some control over all that is changing around her with some typical 7 year old attitude. But generally she has been a fantastic trooper so far.
We are off to get some local currancy and see things behind the guest house walls, prior to our journey to Hohoe today.
Two days, three continents
It took over 30 hours but we managed to get from our house in Ottawa to the hotel in Accra in one piece (well, since I'm writing for the family, I guess it would be more accurate to say 3 pieces plus the ridiculous amount of luggage we have brought with us). I have never traveled this kind of distance as family unit before and I have to say that although it is tiring, the journey from Canada to Africa was smooth and conspicuously lacking real stress (maybe St. Christopher is saving that for later...). The advent of flat screens on the backs of airplane seats is definitely a big part of this. Although movies is not something that is generally part of our travel routine (Sylvie gets by on music on car rides between Brampton and Ottawa) having not only movies but a choice of movies makes the close quarters of economy bearable for the double digit hours we spent there.
A few observations of the last 30 or so hours:
Our plane from Montreal to Amsterdam was named the Audrey Hepburn. I'm not sure if KLM names all their planes (I didn't remember to look before boarding in Amsterdam) but it's curious that they chose an American movie star from a bygone era (Queen Beatrix was already taken?). I'm hoping that we get to fly on the Grace Kelley during our return journey.
Even a few hours spent in Schipol (sp?) airport is enough to remind you that all those things you hear about Amsterdam and the Netherlands being different really are true. I've never been in an airport with a library, let alone one that is run on the honour system. Sylvie spent the better part of half an hour playing in the children's jungle, a large room with slides and a jungle gym exclusively for kids, but free to anyone in the airport. North American airports are all about paying for access to these extras and while I'm sure that there are exclusive lounges in Amsterdam, there was a whole lot more that was just free for all travellers.
First impressions of Ghana are that it has undergone considerable change in the last 11 years. I'll leave the deeper observations about this to Alice who knows the country much more intimately than I do, but it was an interesting sleep deprived ride in from the airport last night. Lots of contruction and middle class growth, right beside a group by the side of the road watching soccer on a flat screen TV pulled out beside the house. The fact that I am sitting on the porch of the guest house writing this on a laptop and connected by wi-fi is also considerably different from the last time we were here.
I'm going to leave it there. We need to go out and convert some money and make sure that we're ready to go when our ride arrives.
A few observations of the last 30 or so hours:
Our plane from Montreal to Amsterdam was named the Audrey Hepburn. I'm not sure if KLM names all their planes (I didn't remember to look before boarding in Amsterdam) but it's curious that they chose an American movie star from a bygone era (Queen Beatrix was already taken?). I'm hoping that we get to fly on the Grace Kelley during our return journey.
Even a few hours spent in Schipol (sp?) airport is enough to remind you that all those things you hear about Amsterdam and the Netherlands being different really are true. I've never been in an airport with a library, let alone one that is run on the honour system. Sylvie spent the better part of half an hour playing in the children's jungle, a large room with slides and a jungle gym exclusively for kids, but free to anyone in the airport. North American airports are all about paying for access to these extras and while I'm sure that there are exclusive lounges in Amsterdam, there was a whole lot more that was just free for all travellers.
I'm going to leave it there. We need to go out and convert some money and make sure that we're ready to go when our ride arrives.
Thursday, 21 February 2013
Today's the day!
Well, it's finally here. It seems crazy that it's been 2 1/2 years since we decided to do something exciting during a semester off. There have been a lot of up and downs trying to negotiate 11 weeks of travel overseas (we read some books about people who traveled with kids for a year or more -- I can't figure out whether that length of time would be easier or harder) but now we are set to finally put all the abstract plans into action.
We leave today at 2:45 pm Ottawa time and will arrive 7:30 pm Ghanian time on Friday. We won't arrive in Hohoe where we're volunteering until Saturday afternoon. Hopefully we've done a sufficiently good job getting out of the 100 metre dash mindset of the last week and into a marathon frame of mind!
Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Malaria and Anansi
Tuesdays have become Mefloquine nights in our house. The anti-malarial has to be taken once a week at the same time and with food. In order to give it time to work and to make sure you're not having an adverse reaction you need to take it three weeks before heading into the malarial zone you're visiting. Tonight was dose #3 for the Hutton/Gordon family.
Anti-malarials have a complicated reputation, to say the least. Most people see an "augmentation" to the their nightly dreams. People often dream more and more vividly. Some people find that their dreams become particularly crazy. For most people this is where it stops. There was a case a number of years ago where a Canadian on a foreign volunteer assignment (Canada World Youth?) stabbed members of his host family and blamed the anti-malarial medication. It's not clear, I don't think, what role the drugs played and there was evidence that he had other psychological issues going on, but for better or worse it's stories like that seem to get brought up when the subject is mentioned.
I hardly ever remember my dreams and since taking the medication I've certainly noticed that I am remembering more of my dreams and they're somewhat more vivid. So far though, I haven't killed anyone (although I was tempted during the slow drive home from downtown this afternoon, but I digress).
After we took our medication I was reading to Sylvie and she found a Ghanian Anansi story that we'd pulled off her bookshelf in our attempt to decide what books we should be bringing with us to Hohoe. I had never really thought about it before, but I was struck by the crazy dream-like quality of myth: characters acting irrationally, animals talking, actions occurring that are completely fantastical, etc.
I've copied a short Anansi story below. This isn't the one Sylvie and I read, but it's similar. This one has the added bonus of having the main character pulled in a number of different directions at the same time; the result being that his limbs are stretched thin. As we complete the made scramble to get everything done before Thursday afternoon, I can empathize with Anansi!
Once upon a time, a long time ago, there
lived a spider named Anansi. Anansi's wife was a very good cook. But always,
Anansi loved to taste the food that others in the village made for themselves
and for their families.
One day, he stopped by Rabbit's house. Rabbit was his good friend.
"There are greens in your pot," cried Anansi excitedly. Anansi loved greens.
"They are not quite done," said Rabbit. "But they will be soon. Stay and eat with me."\
Rabbit thought that was a great idea. And so it was done.
"I smell beans," Anansi sniffed excitedly as he ambled along. "Delicious beans, cooking in a pot.
"Come eat our beans with us," cried the monkeys. "They are almost done."
"I would love to Father Monkey," said Anansi. And again, Anansi suggested he spin a web, with one end tied around his leg, and one end tied to the big bean pot.
Father Monkey thought that was a great idea. All his children thought so, too. And so it was done.
"I smell sweet potatoes," Anansi sniffed happily as he ambled along. "Sweet potatoes and honey, I do believe!"
"Anansi," called his friend Hog. "My pot is full of sweet potatoes and honey! Come share my food with me."
"I would love to," said Anansi. And again, Anansi suggested he spin a web, with one end tied around his leg, and one end tied to the sweet potato pot.
His friend Hog thought that was a great idea. And so it was done.
By the time Anansi arrived at the river, he had one web tied to each of his eight legs.
"This was a wonderful idea," Anansi told himself proudly. "I wonder whose pot will be ready first?"
Just then, Anansi felt a tug at his leg. "Ah," said Anansi. "That is the web string tied to Rabbit's greens." He felt another. And another. Anansi was pulled three ways at once.
"Oh dear," said Anansi as he felt the fourth web string pull.
Just then, he felt the fifth web string tug. And the sixth. And the seventh. And the eighth. Anansi was pulled this way and that way, as everyone pulled on the web strings at once. His legs were pulled thinner and thinner. Anansi rolled quickly into the river. When all the webs had washed away, Anansi pulled himself painfully up on shore.
"Oh my, oh my," sighed Anansi. "Perhaps that was not such a good idea after all."
Anti-malarials have a complicated reputation, to say the least. Most people see an "augmentation" to the their nightly dreams. People often dream more and more vividly. Some people find that their dreams become particularly crazy. For most people this is where it stops. There was a case a number of years ago where a Canadian on a foreign volunteer assignment (Canada World Youth?) stabbed members of his host family and blamed the anti-malarial medication. It's not clear, I don't think, what role the drugs played and there was evidence that he had other psychological issues going on, but for better or worse it's stories like that seem to get brought up when the subject is mentioned.
I hardly ever remember my dreams and since taking the medication I've certainly noticed that I am remembering more of my dreams and they're somewhat more vivid. So far though, I haven't killed anyone (although I was tempted during the slow drive home from downtown this afternoon, but I digress).
After we took our medication I was reading to Sylvie and she found a Ghanian Anansi story that we'd pulled off her bookshelf in our attempt to decide what books we should be bringing with us to Hohoe. I had never really thought about it before, but I was struck by the crazy dream-like quality of myth: characters acting irrationally, animals talking, actions occurring that are completely fantastical, etc.
I've copied a short Anansi story below. This isn't the one Sylvie and I read, but it's similar. This one has the added bonus of having the main character pulled in a number of different directions at the same time; the result being that his limbs are stretched thin. As we complete the made scramble to get everything done before Thursday afternoon, I can empathize with Anansi!
One day, he stopped by Rabbit's house. Rabbit was his good friend.
"There are greens in your pot," cried Anansi excitedly. Anansi loved greens.
"They are not quite done," said Rabbit. "But they will be soon. Stay and eat with me."\
"I would love to,
Rabbit, but I have some things to do," Anansi said hurriedly. If he waited
at Rabbit's house, Rabbit would certainly give him jobs to do. "I
know," said Anansi. "I'll spin a web. I'll tie one end around my leg
and one end to your pot. When the greens are done, tug on the web, and I'll
come running!"
Rabbit thought that was a great idea. And so it was done.
"I smell beans," Anansi sniffed excitedly as he ambled along. "Delicious beans, cooking in a pot.
"Come eat our beans with us," cried the monkeys. "They are almost done."
"I would love to Father Monkey," said Anansi. And again, Anansi suggested he spin a web, with one end tied around his leg, and one end tied to the big bean pot.
Father Monkey thought that was a great idea. All his children thought so, too. And so it was done.
"I smell sweet potatoes," Anansi sniffed happily as he ambled along. "Sweet potatoes and honey, I do believe!"
"Anansi," called his friend Hog. "My pot is full of sweet potatoes and honey! Come share my food with me."
"I would love to," said Anansi. And again, Anansi suggested he spin a web, with one end tied around his leg, and one end tied to the sweet potato pot.
His friend Hog thought that was a great idea. And so it was done.
By the time Anansi arrived at the river, he had one web tied to each of his eight legs.
"This was a wonderful idea," Anansi told himself proudly. "I wonder whose pot will be ready first?"
Just then, Anansi felt a tug at his leg. "Ah," said Anansi. "That is the web string tied to Rabbit's greens." He felt another. And another. Anansi was pulled three ways at once.
"Oh dear," said Anansi as he felt the fourth web string pull.
Just then, he felt the fifth web string tug. And the sixth. And the seventh. And the eighth. Anansi was pulled this way and that way, as everyone pulled on the web strings at once. His legs were pulled thinner and thinner. Anansi rolled quickly into the river. When all the webs had washed away, Anansi pulled himself painfully up on shore.
"Oh my, oh my," sighed Anansi. "Perhaps that was not such a good idea after all."
To this day, Anansi the
Spider has eight very thin legs. And he never got any food that day at all.
Going to Ghana -- a 7 year old's take
Going to Ghana ....
Sylvie
- I think it is interesting
- I think I am going to have a lot of fun
- I think I am going to make lots of friends
- I will miss my friends
- I will be hot
- I will have fun
- I would love to go swimming?
- I love the idea of teaching.
Sylvie
Monday, 18 February 2013
The Mad Scramble
"Did I mention I was leaving for 11 weeks and this is REALLY not a good time to leave me without a card?" I asked (calmly of course...).
"Well, there is has been a lot of purchases on your card today."
"Yes, did I mention I was leaving for 11 weeks and needed to buy things for the trip?"
"Well, maybe we can go through the recent purchases and just make sure they're all legit. Did you shop at ---?"
"Yes"
"And at --"
"Yes"
"And at --"
"Yes"
"And at --"
"Oh my god, yes! Did I mention we're leaving for ELEVEN weeks?!"
Moral of the story? Use your credit card all the time so that when you need to prepare for something like five weeks in Ghana and five weeks in France, it won't raise any flags. This has the added bonus of supporting the create capitalist utopia that is our economy. I live to make Jim Flaherty proud!
Today was family day in Ontario and all the stores were closed so we had to curtail our shopping for today. Instead we spent the day doing Sylvie's hair. It took the better part of the day to take the old braids out, wash the hair and then re-braid. Sylvie gets her TV/movie fix on hair days. Today she watched 4 episodes of Pippi Longstocking, 2 episodes of Geronimo Stilton and all of Monsters vs Aliens. It's unlikely we'll be watching much television for most of the time in Ghana so stocking up this week might not be such a bad thing.
Ghana and change -- 11 years later -- Blackberries
I have just been texting with the young woman who was nine the last time I was in Ghana. She is now 20 and a student at university. It is hard to get my mind around that. Her texting sounds like any 20 yr old anywhere and of course it is from her blackberry. I can not wait to see her again and have Sylvie and her meet.
In Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt, Africa's three biggest economies, BlackBerrys outsold smartphone competitors this quarter
In Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt, Africa's three biggest economies, BlackBerrys outsold smartphone competitors this quarter
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Ghana Government cuts fuel subsidies
We will see next week how this is affecting people's lives. Likely not a good thing for families struggling. Will it bring rapid inflation?
Ghana Government cuts fuel subsidies
By Kwasi Kpodo
ACCRA, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Ghana cut fuel subsidies on Sunday as its new government took measures to curb spending after the West African exporter of cocoa, gold and oil overshot its budget deficit target by almost 100 percent last year.
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) said in a statement that fuel price hikes were necessary to cover the cost of an increase in crude oil prices and the depreciation of the local cedi currency by about 14 percent last year.
The new prices, which took effect on Sunday, saw premium petrol and diesel prices jump 20 percent per litre in cedi terms, while Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) rose 50 percent.
Prices of kerosene, marine diesel and residual fuel oil also increased 15 percent per litre.
The decision to cut subsidies came days after Fitch rating agency revised the nation's outlook to negative from stable, citing the severe deterioration of its fiscal deficit.
"While current expenditure has surged, the share of capital expenditure has fallen, which could harm longer-term growth prospects and worsen debt dynamics," Fitch said.
Decisions by governments in the region to cut fuel subsidies have previously led to social unrest. Nigeria's government was forced last year to reinstate some subsidies it had cut after several days of strikes and protests, while Ghana's last attempt to cut subsidies more than two years ago resulted in opposition-led street protests.
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